India rejects Iran tanker swap reports
India on Tuesday rejected reports claiming that Iran had sought an exchange of three seized tankers in return for allowing safe passage of Indian-flagged or India-bound ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been closed following US-Israeli strikes.
Terming the reports “baseless”, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said there had been “no discussion of this nature”. “The three vessels are anyway not Iranian owned, neither are there any Iranian vessels,” he said at an inter-ministerial briefing. Jaiswal said India is in talks with Iran and other countries to ensure the safe return of Indian vessels stranded in the region.
“Many of our ships are still stuck in Strait of Hormuz. We plan to have talks with Iran and other countries so that those vessels can be brought back home safely,” he said. He reiterated that discussions are ongoing to secure maritime movement through the critical waterway, which carries over 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
“We are in talks with Iran and other countries… It is our intention to work with them to bring those ships back home safely. This is our objective,” he said, adding that talks with Iran are also covering humanitarian issues.
Amid continued tensions and disruptions caused by exchanges of drones and missiles between the US-Israel alliance and Iran, the Indian LPG carrier Nanda Devi arrived at Vadinar port in Gujarat’s Jamnagar on Tuesday, carrying 46,500 metric tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas for ship-to-ship transfer.The Government had said on Saturday that two Indian-flagged LPG vessels — Nanda Devi and Shivalik - had safely crossed the Strait of Hormuz. While Nanda Devi anchored on Tuesday, Shivalik reached India on Monday.
With both vessels now back, 22 Indian-flagged ships remain in the Persian Gulf, carrying 611 seafarers, according to official figures released earlier.
